Take the Initiative
by Pata Hikari
Summary: Overreaching to create a fake miracle might backfire, you know? *giggle*


George opened the thick manila envolope. Kyrie had handed to him what could be his doom.

Letters. Written by Battler. He had been gone for so long, he people should have forgotten him. There wasn't an adress on them, just names written down in the center of each individual envolope.

Jessica, George, Maria... Shannon.

Why in the world would he send a letter to her? She wasn't family.

Oh but that didn't matter. Because George remembered. He knew how much time Battler had spent with her. How he had snuck off from the other cousins, dragging her along to whatever trivial thing talked about her with. They had spent a lot of time together. And even when they weren't alone he had seen them give each other knowing glances. Smiles reserved only for them.

It made George want to try a roundhouse kick on Battler's head. What did that rude, foul mouthed, immature **brat** have that he didn't? He could tell, there was a look of expectation on Shannon's face. Even now she was thinking about him. She was hoping for a letter from Battler. And there was one.

George didn't know what was message Battler had given her. And, he didn't want to know.

A man has to make bold steps to achieve his desires. George knew this. He was a man, when another man was standing in the way of what he wanted, that man was an enemy. It was time to declare war, and make the first strike.

As he passed out the letters, he quickly slipped the letter for Shannon into his coat. Of course, there was still a risk that Kyrie knew Shannon had gotten a letter. But he could pass it off as Battler forgetting to hand it to Kyrie...

Luckily, she didn't bring it up. So she likely didn't know.

_Forget all about Battler, Shannon. He's "forgotten" about you now. See? Didn't even send you a letter._

* * *

That's one such possibility. You can look at the past actions in previous games, this moment is quite possible.

Did it happen...?

Well, there is only black letters here, after all.

Let's turn back to a past game, pull away the veil of illusions, and see one way things might have gone.

* * *

With a small click, the door to Natsuhi's room was locked again. The small party of three breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well then, shall we find that mirror then?" Gohda said.

"R-right." Shannon said, the two servants began digging through Natsuhi's drawers, searching for that small charm.

George looked around the room. There was only one door, and the room itself was on the second floor. Unless Rosa used a master key, it would be impossible for the culprit to enter the room without breaking the door down or climbing up on a ladder and breaking a window. Both of which would give enough advance notice to escape or fight back.

Even though he had only done this to comfort Shannon, perhaps moving into this room was the right move.

"Found it!" Shannon announced. It was a small velvet pouch. Shannon opened it up, pulling out the small mirror within.

"Very nice Shannon." Gohda said, "With that, I bet no witch can get us." Gohda laughed nervously. Either he was beginning to beleive in the witch, just a little, or he was humoring Shannon. He looked over to George, "Now what should we do?"

"I think we should stay here." George said, "Since Aunt Rosa has all the master keys, and we have the only regular key, this is probably the safest room to be in right now."

Nobody argued, so that was what was decided.

Gohda sat in a chair, and Shannon and George sat on the bed. The three sat, as the rain and wind slammed against the window. They said nothing for some time.

"Shannon." George finally said.

"Yes?"

"We're... going to get married after all this, right?" He said.

Shannon giggled, "Of course we are."

"Right." George said. "Still..." He looked away from her, out the window. "I... I wish I could have invited Mother to our wedding."

Shannon let out a long sigh. "I don't think Madam Eva would have accepted that invitation." She said with a slightly bitter smile.

George responded with an equally bitter laugh. "Probably not. But it is the principle of the matter." His gaze moved down to his shoes. "At least... now I don't have to get in a horrific argument. I'll always... be their perfect son."

Surprisingly, Gohda spoke up. "I'm sure that, even if you argued for a while, Madam Eva would have turned around. I saw how much she cared for you whenever she came over."

George smiled, "Thank you, Gohda."

Shannon giggled. "I guess our personal conversation was making you feel a little awkward, huh?"

Gohda shrugged, "We're stuck in here together until the police come."

They were silent for some more time after that. While they were silent, George was thinking.

He was going to marry Shannon. She loved him, he loved her. They were going to be happy.

Even if that relationship had started with a lie?

He still had that letter. Shortly after he had hidden it, guilt had overtaken him. He would always tell himself, "I'll confess." But he never did. He brought it with him every time he went to Rokkenjima. The old, wrinkled, unopened envelope. He was always too much of a coward to tell her. He clenched his fists, standing up.

"George?" Shannon said.

"I... I need to do this now. Before we leave, before we get married. I need to tell you something."

"Is... this personal?" Gohda said, "Should I-"

"No. Stay. This... this thing I did. It deserves for witnesses to know." George was pacing around the room now.

"George...?" Shannon said, "Whatever it is, I'm sure it's nothing important."

"Maybe. But... it probably hurt your feelings at the time." George said. He reached into his pocket, and pulled out the letter. "Shannon... this, is for you." He held it up to her.

For a while, Shannon stared at it. "George... what... is... this?"

"A few years ago, do you remember...?"

"ReMEMber...?"

George nodded, taking a deep breath before continuing. "Battler wrote letters to the cousins. He... also wrote one for you."

"HE wrote a LEttER? hE rEMEMBEred me?" Shannon seemed to have frozen into place. Her eyes were focused on one thing, the letter.

"Yes." George said quietly. "I... I was a coward, and jealous. I... I lied to you, and hid it away. I'm sorry, Shannon. I... I was just so-"

Shannon snatched the letter from his hands, tore open the envelope with mechanical precision, and unfolded the crumpled note inside.

_Shannon,_

_I'm sorry I can't be there right now. I got real pissed at that old bastard, and now I'm kind of stuck. I guess I'm the first son to disinherit the father, huh?_

_Anyways, I'm really sorry I broke that promise to you. I completely understand if you're mad at me. Hell, you probably are. I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't even read this letter. Still, if you are, and you can forgive me. I've included my new address and phone number. So if you want to get it touch with me, you can. Maybe we can even meet somewhere off Rokenjima. I've found some great new novels, but it's not as fun without you._

_Battler._

"He... he... he... he... he..." Shannon said, over and over again. Staring at the letter. "It WASN'T... He DiDN'T... He... he... he... he... ha...he...hah... hahahahahaha AHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHA! GYAHHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" And Shannon laughed.

George stepped back, there had been many reactions he had been expecting from Shannon. Anger, frustration, sadness, disappointment.

This was not what he expected. Who would expect it?

She laughed, a screeching laugh that lacked joy.

"Shannon!" Gohda stood from his chair, "What... what are you doing?" He looked worried. After all, shy and quiet Shannon... had never laughed like this before.

"It's... it's perfect!" She suddenly announced, looking between the two men with an excited look. "Only Rosa can open the door with the Master keys. The key Natsuhi used is in her with us."

"Yes..." George said, "That's right. But..."

"In other words, this is a perfect closed room. There can be no outside interference."

"Y-yes. That is correct." Gohda said. "But..."

"It's perfect. Such a beautiful closed room I could cry. In a thousand years of mystery novel tricks, the perfect closed room is very hard, you know?"

Why was Shannon talking about mystery novels now? George knew she enjoyed reading them, but what did that have to do with this...?

"Shannon, are you OK?" George asked quietly.

Shannon set down the letter, "I'm perfectly fine, George." She reached into her dress.

What happened next was too fast for him to comprehend. There was a loud noise, a flash of light.

And Gohda fell over.

"G-Gohda!" George shouted, kneeling down to the larger man. "What...?"

Next, George heard a quiet click. He turned back to Shannon.

In her hand, was a pistol. Smoke from the fresh gunshot still pouring from the barrel.

"Shannon... that... what...?" George slowly stood up, stepping back. While Shannon, still sitting on the bed, kept that pistol pointed at him. "Wh... what is this?"

"This? It's a gun George." Shannon said lightly. "What else would it be?"

"W-why d-do you ha-have it...? A-and... w-why did you..." He couldn't finish that sentence.

"Shoot Gohda? Well. SOMEBODY has to be the Fifth Twilight. And Gohda's here. Look, I got him clean in the chest too." She sighed, "Honestly George. I was going to make it easy for you. I was going to suggest we have tea. I'd go get some. Drug yours and Gohda's, and perform the sacrifices once you were asleep. Buttttt then you** SHOWED ME THIS."**

"Y-you're... you're..."

"The cuprit? Yes." Shannon said lightly. "It wasn't easy, setting up those closed rooms. Fortunately Rosa was easy enough to bribe, and Kanon did a wonderful job in dying just at the right time for Jessica."

George couldn't believe it. "Y-You k-killed my parents!?" That scene in the chapel. Shannon had done that?

"Didn't I just say I'm the culprit George?" Shannon said, her tone of irritation. "There can only be one culprit. So since I killed Gohda, I had to have killed the rest."

"Th-what?" George said. That didn't make sense. Just because Shannon killed one person, doesn't mean she killed the rest... then why did she say it like.

She frowned, "Honestly George. It's a pretty simple concept. Multiple killers just muddy the waters and make it harder for the detective to solve the crime.

"W-why did you kill them!?" George said. He couldn't do anything but speak. Shannon had kept that gun pointed at him the entire time. "I-if you were worried a-about Mother and Father stopping the w-wedding, I co-could almost understand. But why Uncle Rudolf? Or Aunt Kirye? Or Jessica!? Why did you kill any of them!?"

Shannon rolled her eyes. "I didn't kill them for YOU, George. If this was for you, well, I don't know what roulette I'd set up. Cooking? I dunno. You're nice, but don't stand out in any particular way." Shannon nodded, "But that's what I like about you. You're a strong, reliable guy that would take care of me. Pity you didn't solve it in time."

"T-then why?"

"Well, like I said. This is a perfect closed room." She giggled. "I wonder if he'll be able to solve it. I've instructed Genji to tell him everything if he figures it out before midnight." She took a step towards him, George instinctively stepped back... tripping over Gohda's body.

With a quiet thud he hit the ground, landing on his rear. He still tried to crawl backwards away from the threat to his life. Even as he put the peices together in his head, he rejected it. After all, it was absurd.

Nobody would kill just to** create a murder mystery.**

"Goodbye George." Shannon said.

"Shannon, wai-"

She pulled the trigger, shooting George in the stomach.

Then, silence.

The witch, trapped in the room with two corpses, put away the pistol. She then quietly walked over to the phone, picked it up, and dialed for the kitchen. "Genji? Yes. I need you to get the paint. Head to Natsuhi's room and do whatever you want with the door. Yes. Goodbye." She hung up the phone, looked around her, and laughed. "I have a lot of work to do. It's got to look like a proper struggle for Battler."

The witch smiled, and prepared a final gift for the man she loved.

* * *

Well, there we go. Quite an interesting scene, huh?

Very different then how that brat presented it! With sacrifices and protections and a teary final farewell?

Ah, there is nothing better then exposing the pathetic ugly guts of a hideous tale.

**AFTER ALL. THAT'S WHAT YOU WANT. ISN'T IT?**

Heeheeheeehahahaahahahahahah a!


End file.
